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Sunday, April 25, 2010

Christopher Columbus was bad for American Indians. Alien life could be far worse for Earthlings.

In the summer of 2005 funding was withdrawn from The Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO).

It was a proposed mission to orbit three of the Galilean satellites, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, all or any which may have subsurface oceans and possibly the ingredients for life.

The spacecraft was to have been launched by a conventional chemical rocket, but once in space would have been driven by an ion propulsion system, electric thrusters powered by a small nuclear reactor.

Too bad that.

The more we learn about space, the more likely it is that life exists in many places and in ways both strange and familiar. There is compelling evidence that life on earth was introduced from space. Where did that come from?

To the surprise of some and no surprise to others, it may all have come from the hand of God or stranger yet from no one.

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Stephen Hawking: alien life is out there, scientist warns

Stephen Hawking has suggested that aliens almost certainly exist but has warned humanity not to try to contact them.

One of the world's leading scientists makes the claim in a new television documentary series, beginning on the Discovery Channel next month.

Hawking says that in a universe with 100 billion galaxies, each containing hundreds of millions of stars, it is unlikely that earth is the only place where life has evolved.

"To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational," he said, according to The Sunday Times.

"The real challenge is working out what aliens might actually be like."

Hawking says that they could be microbes – basic animals such as worms which have been on Earth for millions of years, but suggests that extraterrestrial life could develop much further.

"We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet," Hawking said.

"I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach."

The scientist, who is paralysed by motor neurone disease, warned that contact with alien life could spell disaster for the human race.

"If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn't turn out very well for the American Indians."

"In ours, though, even Parker’s and Stone’s wildest outrages often just blur into the scenery. In a country where the latest hit movie, “Kick-Ass,” features an 11-year-old girl spitting obscenities and gutting bad guys while dressed in pedophile-bait outfits, there isn’t much room for real transgression. Our culture has few taboos that can’t be violated, and our establishment has largely given up on setting standards in the first place.

Except where Islam is concerned. There, the standards are established under threat of violence, and accepted out of a mix of self-preservation and self-loathing.

This is what decadence looks like: a frantic coarseness that “bravely” trashes its own values and traditions, and then knuckles under swiftly to totalitarianism and brute force.

Happily, today’s would-be totalitarians are probably too marginal to take full advantage. This isn’t Weimar Germany, and Islam’s radical fringe is still a fringe, rather than an existential enemy.

For that, we should be grateful. Because if a violent fringe is capable of inspiring so much cowardice and self-censorship, it suggests that there’s enough rot in our institutions that a stronger foe might be able to bring them crashing down."

Rating-firm analysts were expressing concern that CDO models were flawed in late 2006, according to e-mails released by the Senate panel. CDOs were among the largest sources of the almost $1.78 trillion of writedowns and credit losses suffered by the world’s largest financial companies since 2007, according to Bloomberg data.

The securitization underwritten this week by New York-based Citigroup will be granted AAA ratings from Moody’s and not be graded by other firms, said the people familiar with the matter, who declined to be identified because the sale is private. About 74 percent of the mortgages, which have an average value of $932,699 and 46 percent of which are on California properties, allow borrowers to pay only interest for the first 10 years.

I hold no stock in that bank, and the overall effect will be to stabilize the housing market, with affordable loans.

Until the mortgages go into default, which they may not do, being based on payments of interest only. Depends upon what the notes do, in ten years, do they balloon, or is a modification of the repayment schedule built in from the get go?

We are at war. It’s a global war. It extends from Pakistan and Afghanistan to India, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, and from there towards Israel and then down to Egypt, Sudan and Somalia, and west to Europe and ultimately to America. It targets Canada and Australia, Honduras and Colombia, and all those who challenge fanatical intolerance and instead advocate freedom. It is a continuation of the ancient war of tyranny against freedom, a war that will endure so long as freedom threatens the power and legitimacy of monarchs and dictators.

That war — a war of awesome dimensions, a war with a long and bloody history — is not the consequence of this or that unpopular policy but above all of beliefs we are not even supposed to pronounce nowadays: the crazed visions of Muslim extremists who are waging jihad against us. And the beliefs of radical secular extremists who share the goals of jihad.

That war is being waged by people who hate America and Israel, as they hate Christians, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists, and those many Muslims who want to live in peace.

What? Did you forget that the Taliban destroyed statues of Buddha? Does anybody believe that they would have been spared if there were peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority?

Yet there are those — people in positions of great prestige and power, some in government, some in the press, some in the universities — who insist that all would be well if only Prime Minister Netanyahu told a few Jews they can’t live in a certain neighborhood of Jerusalem. That Israel’s enemies — who are also OUR enemies — would scrap their global jihad if only there were one more Arab country in the Middle East.

To demonstrate their conviction that Israel is the problem, these people treat Israel’s enemies — who are also OUR enemies — with greater respect than they showed Israelis. Prime Minister Netanyahu is treated as an unwelcome guest at the White House while radical Islamists are constantly asked, very politely, to be reasonable and to become our friends.

Sometimes they even receive a bow.

This is folly. It is morally corrupt and strategically misguided. Consider the case of Iran, the world’s leading sponsor of terrorists. The Islamic Republic of Iran declared war on the United States in 1979, and has waged war against us for 31 years. Iranian-supported terrorists, alongside Iranian military personnel, are killing American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan today, at the same time that they are organizing lethal assaults against Israeli civilians and military personnel. Even today Hezbollah is receiving new rockets and missiles, new intelligence assessments, new supplies of ammunition, directly from Iran. And yet, in all these years, the United States has never directly challenged Iran, never made that dreadful regime pay an appropriate price for the murders it has committed and supported.

Anyone who looks clearly at the Iranian regime knows that the mullahs make no distinction between the United States and Israel except a geographical one: Israel is closer. But both are targeted for destruction. When thousands of Iranians are mobilized in the streets to chant “death to America!” — what do you think they mean?

The Iranians have been doing these things for 31 years. They are not a response to apartment flats in Jerusalem. They are acts of an evil regime fully committed to the destruction of the United States and of Israel.

And yet, the prime minister of Israel is singled out for public humiliation while the supreme leader of Iran is addressed respectfully. Israeli housing policy is considered a greater threat to peace than Iranian attacks against Americans and Israelis. While there is much talk about sanctions and about the Iranian nuclear program, we are not doing anything against the Iranian terrorists and their proxies: Hamas, Hezbollah, Fatah, Islamic Jihad, and the many others, including Al Qaeda.

It is folly. It is morally corrupt and strategically misguided. Instead of fighting our enemies, we direct our moral outrage against Israel’s unquestioned right to govern its own capital city. This must change

The American people understand this much better than American leaders. Republicans understand that better than Democrats, and American Christians understand it better than American Jews. Just the other day the Anti-Defamation League issued a special report, not about the alarming and disgusting increase in anti-Semitism in this country, including vulgar accusations of dual loyalty (or, as Harvard’s Prof. Walt slyly prefers to put it, conflict of interest) against American Jews in the government, but rather against the miniscule and marginal militia movement in the United States, which is being dealt with quite effectively by our law enforcement bodies.

Afraid or embarrassed to deal with the real threat to both Israel and the United dates, our leaders prefer to conjure up fantastic bogeymen, from builders of apartment buildings to militias. The bogeymen are the politically correct substitutes for the very real threat that actually menaces our security and perhaps even our survival.

Where are the so-called leaders of the big American Jewish organizations? Where are the Presidents of major American universities? As Mayor Koch put it so well, the silence is deafening. We all know that in the 1930s, most American Jewish leaders failed to speak out against the indifference of the political class to the plight of the European Jews. It is less well known that American universities were similarly silent, that outspoken Nazi supporters and apologists continued to teach in such distinguished places as Harvard and the University of Chicago, and that they continued to teach at such places long after the Second World War was over.

Is it Groundhog Day all over again? Will we remain silent as we did in the past? Or will we join with the great majority of our fellow citizens and insist that Israel is entitled to greater respect than her enemies and that our leaders must recognize that Israel’s enemies are OUR enemies too?

Those of us who have gathered here today know that those who threaten Israel threaten America too. In this moment of great crisis the overwhelming majority of Americans know that, just as our friends around the world proclaimed on September 11, 2001, “we are all Americans,” so today “we are all Israelis.”

But we are not all Israelis, because the Hamas and HB threats, even Iran itself, are not global military threats, but regional ones.

"misdirection" is trying to globalize a local territorial conflict.

The proof of this, is on the economic front, where the Iranians COULD behave irrationally and destroy the whirled economy by destroying their own oil production capacity.

This act would, of course, be irrational. Economic suicide.And the Iranians do not take that course, the ones that do advocate for that course of action, to destroy the Iranian oil production capacity, "misdirection", advocating for the Israeli.

When the Iranian threat, through Hamas and HB is not global, at all.A Regional military threat, they are indeed.A threat along the historical battle ground of the Persian or Babylonian Empire driving west to the Eastern Med, with the Europeons driving south, along that same shore.

Since before Alexander the Great was great or even born, this battle has been fought, for the same ground.

Before there was a "West" the Levant has been the battleground where these territorial disputes have been waged.

Evidently, Deuce, the Mexicans have discovered how easy it is to get a more, or less valid ID/Soc. Sec crd. One of those links yesterday said the Feds picked up 300 illegals at one job site, and that All had been e-verified.

Beware the political spin. From your link "The government expects to make about $115 billion on Federal Reserve programs, including the purchase of mortgage- backed securities, he wrote. " hmmm, expects.

Add on to that our purchase of the two auto companies and the continuing liabilities they have and the numbers no quite so rosy. Also, how firm are these banks now? I suspect that the move to "mark to fantasy" has improved their capital ratio. Trouble is, how will the fantasy actually hold up when confronted with reality?

There is also the very real cost to the general public of the fed provide virtually no cost funds to the banks so that they can get a free 3 or so point spread on that money whilst our savings sit collecting...NOTHING!

The Sovereign debt issues aren't going away and they could very well be the cause of the next unraveling.

"There is an ongoing policy debate about when and at what speed the Federal Reserve Bank should reduce its portfolio of mortgage-backed securities (MBS). The MBS purchase programme was set up with an initial limit of $500 billion, was later expanded to $1.25 trillion, and is about to expire at the end of the first quarter of 2010. At its meeting in mid-December 2009, the Federal Open Market Committee announced that it was continuing its MBS purchases at a “gradually slowing pace.” However, the minutes from that meeting reveal a disagreement among the board members with respect to the need for continuing the programme:"

No, rufus, I don't believe they bought them cheap at all. What evidence do you have to suggest that the fed gave the banks a haircut on those pieces of paper? That was the purpose of the program - to move the crap off the banks balance sheet and provide them with new cash so they could trade and get bonuses...errrrrr. loan money to folk, yeah, that's it they just turned around and fueled the economy by loaning that newly minted money out.

and to top it off the Fed allowed investment banks to become banks so that they could belly up to the Fed window. example: Goldman Sachs.

"Goldman Sachs To Become The Fourth Largest Bank Holding Company

September 21, 2008

New York, September 21, 2008 -- The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) today announced that it will become the fourth largest Bank Holding Company and will be regulated by the Federal Reserve.

In recent weeks, particularly in view of market developments, Goldman Sachs has discussed with the Federal Reserve our intention to be regulated as a Bank Holding Company. We understand that the market views oversight by the Federal Reserve and the ability to source insured bank deposits as providing a greater degree of safety and soundness. We view regulation by the Federal Reserve Board as appropriate and in the best interests of protecting and growing our franchise across our diverse range of businesses. "

Well, see doug, there are banks and then there are banks. Actually investment banks were very different from banks and a key to the difference was what they were allowed to do and what was backed up by FDIC and the federal reserve. I know you hate the thought but REGULATIONS.

Anyway, the fed went into overdrive to prevent a total collapse of the financial system and they seem to have succeeded in that but to claim that the cost was minimal I think is just political spin. There was a very real cost and not all the accounting is done yet nor is all the trouble over but most folks and the markets seem to think it is all fine and dandy now. Nothing but blue skies and growth ahead. I wish it were true but I have my doubts, serious doubts. A buddy of mine is a bond trader and he spoke of the fear that gripped the market when the PIIGS problem first gripped the markets back in February. He said it was very similar to the fear in the market back in September '08. I haven't talked to him recently but all these attempts to keep Greece on the Euro train doesn't appear to be going smoothly.

"A buddy of mine is a bond trader and he spoke of the fear that gripped the market when the PIIGS problem first gripped the markets back in February. He said it was very similar to the fear in the market back in September '08. I haven't talked to him recently but all these attempts to keep Greece on the Euro train doesn't appear to be going smoothly."

"No, the e-mail messages you should be focusing on are the ones from employees at the credit rating agencies, which bestowed AAA ratings on hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of dubious assets, nearly all of which have since turned out to be toxic waste. And no, that’s not hyperbole: of AAA-rated subprime-mortgage-backed securities issued in 2006, 93 percent — 93 percent! — have now been downgraded to junk status.

What those e-mails reveal is a deeply corrupt system. And it’s a system that financial reform, as currently proposed, wouldn’t fix."

"Since implementation of the reform law in 2006, according to the DHCFP, the number of people with healthcare insurance in Massachusetts--not including Medicare enrolless--has risen approximately 8% from just under 5,100,000 in June 2006 to almost 5,500,000 in June 2009. Including Medicare enrollees, the percentage growth is lower. This could be the result of population growth as opposed to the healthcare reform law although no data is available.

"(As of the first week of April 2010, the six leading health insurance companies in Massachusetts stopped selling insurance to individuals and small groups, effectively making approximately 1,000,000 people in Massachusetts newly uninsured or potentially about to be uninsured. This includes 200,000 affected immediately according to the Boston Globe on April 10, 2010--that is, these individuals' insurance expired in March--and about 800,000 others affected as their policies expire during 2010. As of the second week of April 2010, some of the six health insurance companies have resumed sales to individuals and small groups but it is not clear to what extent--thatis, just direct, just through the Connector, or both.

"None of the policies available via the Connector to individuals and small groups before the first week of April 201 are available as of April 14, 2010.)

"Also according to the DHCFP, approximately 70% of the newly insured received free or subsidized insurance, including some coverage from another new niche insurance program begun in Massachusetts since the 2006 reform law for the unemployed. Payments from the uninsured pool dropped 40% after the reform, although this is somewhat a self-fulfilling number since the payments are limited to monies appropriated. Large group insurers have significantly increased their own exposure under the reform, choosing to self insure. Whether this resulted in better or worse benefits for their employees is not included in DHCFP data (although the benefits presumably meet the mandated minimum).

"According to the DHFCP, monthly premiums for a 35-year-old living in Boston rose 20% since reform since implementation to $328. Similarly, over the same time period, monthly premiums for a 62-year-old indiviudal subscriber living in central Massachusetts rose from about $500 per month to $600 per month..."

During the week of April 5, 2010, the Boston Globe reported that more than a thousand people in Massachusetts had "gamed" the mandate/penalty provision of the law since implementation by choosing to be insured only a few months a year, typically when in need of a specific medical procedure. On the average, the Globe reported, these part-time enrolees were paying $1200-$1600 in premiums over a few months and receiving $10,000 or more in healthcare services before again dropping coverage...

Oh, hell, Q, the rticle I linked was trying to paint a "positive" picture, I'm sure. Just like "Cto" nd the boyz paint a negtive picture.

The fct is, the H/C bill is a pretty lrge entitlement, and will likely cost us about $150 to $200 Billion/yr. The thing is, I think it's money well-spent, and many here, don't. They won't change my mind, and I won't change theirs.

In fact, it is a tax on bank depositors and borrowers and when insufficient, a tax on you know who.

The FDIC allows near-insolvent banks to take deposits ( borrowing from the public) at interests rates that do not reflect the impaired condition of the bank. That is bad enough.

Allowing real estate speculators (Emigrant Bank of New York, Tarp recipient) and gambling institutions ( Goldman) to be able to take deposits at below market rates and insured by the FDIC, to further speculate and gamble is, and I use the economic term, "total bullshit".

My objection Rufus is that you throw out the 40% reduction in MA(no matter how that number is developed or its significance) with the implication that it somehow affects the national debate when in fact one of the big objections to the national plan is that it actually drives up individual rates as an offset to the handouts to the unions on the employee supplied plans.

tax...insurance -- is there really much difference? Still, it seems a good idea to insure your bank deposits against default by the deposit taking institution and make that deposit taking institution pay into the insurance fund. If there was ever an institution that deserved to be bailed out it would the FDIC given its role in insuring, to a relatively low amount, individuals deposits.

I fully agree that an FDIC insured deposit should not be taken to the casino by the deposit taking institution. Regulation should address this issue. The banks will howl bloody murder and do everything in their power to stop such a regulation though.

That nasty oil accident in the Gulf could be unhelpful to the DRILL BABY DRILL crowd:

"What appeared to a manageable spill a couple of days ago after an oil rig exploded and sank off the Louisiana coast Tuesday, has now turned into a more serious environmental problem. The new leak was discovered Saturday, and as much as 1,000 barrels – or 42,000 gallons – of oil is leaking each day, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said. "

Sure it's natural. So is arsenic. In any case they seem mighty concerned with 1000 barrels a day getting pumped into the sea and yes it is 50 miles offshore yet there is some worry that the 2 billion gulf coast fishery could be threatened. I hope not. Hopefully it won't take months to stop the leak.

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Magnificent Ronald and the Founding Fathers of al Qaeda

“These gentlemen are the moral equivalents of America’s founding fathers.” — Ronald Reagan while introducing the Mujahideen leaders to media on the White house lawns (1985). During Reagan’s 8 years in power, the CIA secretly sent billions of dollars of military aid to the mujahedeen in Afghanistan in a US-supported jihad against the Soviet Union. We repeated the insanity with ISIS against Syria.